Living in poverty as a widower and left to care for his son, Teo, he was blackmailed into building ingenious weapons for the Fire Nation. Despite the hardships he faced, he still maintained an eccentric persona and his inventions contributed significantly to the development of technology in the world.

Contents

History

The mechanist created a small model to test his design for the hot air balloon.

After a flood destroyed his village, killing his wife and leaving his son Teo a paraplegic, the mechanist led his people into the surrounding mountains in search of a new home. They came across the Air Nomads' long abandoned Northern Air Temple and promptly moved in.

Inspired by the airbenders, the mechanist mass-produced modified versions of their gliders, creating a whole new method of transportation for his people. He also devised an ingenious hot air-based power source for the whole temple, completely refurbishing and remodeling it in the process.

Among other inventions of his were time candles and a cut-safe knife sharpener which "only took [him] three tries to get it right", explaining the three wooden fingers on his left hand. A natural gas explosion similarly left him with patchy eyebrows.[2]

Roughly a year after they settled, the Fire Nation blackmailed the mechanist into building new weapons, including steam-powered battle tanks, a war balloon, and plans for a massive drill,[3] threatening to invade the temple if he did not comply. When Aang found out about this, he broke the arrangement the mechanist had with Qin, and the mechanist subsequently redeemed himself by aiding Aang and the others in repelling the Fire Nation when they stormed the temple.[1]

The mechanist later returned to assist in the preparations for the invasion of the Fire Nation.[4] Before coming ashore, he caused an explosion on one of the boats while working on his new invention, peanut sauce bombs, which Pipsqueak and The Duke seemed to enjoy as they commented that they were "destructive as well as delicious".

Due to the intellectual alliance of Sokka's plan and the mechanist's executions, the invasion force was able to use waterbending-powered submarines to sneak up unnoticed on the Fire Nation coastal guards. The mechanist did comment, however, that Sokka's original blueprints were "a bit difficult to decipher". The mechanist also presented Aang with a new glider with a built in snack compartment.

During the invasion, he tagged along with the invasion force where he operated a supply truck filled to the rim with stone for the earthbending invaders. He narrowly escaped when a missile, shot from one of the battlements, blew up this truck.

He, along with the rest of the invasion force, later found out that his hot air balloons had been manufactured en masse and even upgraded to larger airships by the Fire Nation. The mechanist and the rest of the older members of the invasion force allowed themselves to be captured so that the younger ones could escape on Appa. He was sent to a prison after the invasion.[5]

After the Hundred Year War ended, the mechanist was freed and reunited with his son, Teo. The two attended Zuko's coronation as the new Fire Lord at the Fire Nation Capital.[6]

Inventions

Compressed-air elevator — Built for easy transportation between the many floors of the air temple.[7]

Earth Kingdom supply truck — Motorized, metallic vehicles, supposedly designed by Sokka in preparation for the invasion. They were used as a means of cargo transportation for earthbending ammo.

Abilities

The mechanist was skilled at creating a variety of mechanical inventions, including weapons and a number of different modes of transportation. However, there was a limit to his capabilities, as was evidenced by his not being able to seal up the gas tank without any leaks. He also needed Sokka to help him complete the hot air balloon.[1]